Caribbean vacations rank amongst some of the most sought after vacations in the world. The stunningly beautiful coastal city of Cancun in Mexico has captured the imagination of many a travellers for its unique attractions and holiday trappings. Many travellers planning to book flights to USA for a much clichéd holiday experience consider Cancun in Mexico that promises an unforgettable holiday experience – especially when there are a number of airlines operating cheap flights to Mexico.
Date : Saturday, February 26, 2011
Cancun underwater museum, the largest of its kind in the world has been a prominent part of travel news over the last two years. The museum features surreal and thrillingly eerie sights of coral growth on specially created statues. Painstaking work by master artist Jason deCaires Taylor has borne fruit and the result is for all to see at the Cancun Underwater Museum. Just four of the attractions of the museum amongst many others are La Jardinera de la Esperanza, Coleccionista de los Sueños, Hombre en Llamas, and The Silent Evolution. One just has to book cheap flights to Mexico, which are available with many airlines to check out the seductive charm of this museum.
The Goal of the Museum
The Museum aims to showcase and also encourage the interaction between environmental science and art by creating a complex structure of reef that would be home to marine life. The sculptures are adorned with corals and have been made with particular materials that support coral life. The sculptures have been modelled on people from different walks of life and will undergo continuous change with the growth of coral. With more than 750,000 visitors coming here every year, the Cancun Marine Park ranks amongst the most visited museums on the planet. The museum attempts to show the indispensable relationship between humans and nature. Furthermore, the large number of visiting tourists puts an immense pressure on the natural resources of the region. This museum, especially ‘The Silent Evolution’ emerges as a distraction with visitors and gives the existing natural reefs the chance to recuperate.
The Silent Evolution
The 'Silent Evolution' is amongst the latest and the largest attractions of this underwater museum in Mexico. There are some 400 life size human sculptures here at a depth of some 9 metres under the sea. These sculptures have been created with a pH-neutral concrete and are reinforced with fibreglass. These statues are planted with corals. Taylor has given this creation the name, 'Silent Evolution'.
La Jardinera de la Esperanza (The Gardener of Hope)
La Jardinera de la Esperanza is the depiction of a young girl cultivating various plant pots on the patio steps of a garden. The sculpture of this girl is located about 4 metres under Punta Nizuc, Cancun. Live coral cuttings have been used in these pots and these corals have been taken from areas where human activity or storms have damaged the corals. Specific spaces have been designed in the base of the sculpture for harbouring marine life such as lobsters, juvenile fish, and moray eels. The sculpture portrays the girl as a role model to be emulated in terms of caring for the environment.
El Coleccionista de los Sueños Perdidos (The Archive of Lost Dreams)
The Archive of Lost Dreams shows a male registrar maintaining an underwater archive. This archive comprises numerous bottles and each bottle contains a message. The sculpture of the registrar is shown to be sequencing these bottles and the messages inside as per the different subjects of the messages. These subjects span emotions such as hope, fear, belongingness, and loss. The messages have been collected from people belonging to different cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds. Besides attempting to leave the messages as guiding principles for future generations, the sculpture serves another more practical purpose. Like 'The Silent Evolution', it has been kept in such an area as to distract visitors away from those parts of the park, which suffered damages from storms. This way, the damaged areas of the reef get the chance to regenerate naturally.
Hombre en Llamas (Man on Fire)
As the name suggests, this sculpture depicts a burning man defiantly standing upright and is another of this underwater museum’s charming attractions. The sculpture is located about 8 metres under the sea and live colourful fire coral cuttings have been used for depicting flames overtime. The fire coral cuttings have been taken from coral reefs damaged due to human beings or storms. Some of the corals have been grown artificially as well. The sculpture depicts the message that man is burning out due to environmental degradation but is yet to be aware of the fact.